The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Hope floats for port jobs
Port of Dundee upgrade to see ‘material’ economic benefits for region
Dundee’s upgraded port is turning attention towards Tayside and Fife among major players in the multi-billion-pound oil and gas decommissioning sector.
In an exclusive interview with The Courier, Dundeecom chief executive Callum Falconer said he expected significant levels of new work to begin flowing into the Tay within two years.
Mr Falconer – a 30-year veteran of the oil and gas industry – said he expected the overall economic benefit to the city and wider region to be “material” and “noticeable”.
He was speaking as a new rig arrived at the Port of Dundee, taking the current complement to a record total of five.
Mr Falconer added: “We have the capability and we have the appetite and I would be optimistic that, come 2019/2020, we are going to see quite a lot of decom activity in the port.”
Oil and gas rig decommissioning work will be making a “material” contribution to the economy of Tayside and Fife within five years, it has been predicted.
Dundeecom chief executive Callum Falconer said the combination of a £10 million upgrading of Prince Charles Wharf at the Port of Dundee and the permanent addition of a new heavy lift dockside crane – the largest of its kind anywhere in Europe – meant Dundee was becoming an attractive location for the multi-billion pound sector.
And he says he hopes a “major player” will be attracted to the city within the year.
Mr Falconer was brought in earlier this year to head up the Dundeecom task force, designed to bring a significant slice of the decommissioning cake to Tayside and Fife.
Industry body Oil and Gas UK last year estimated the size of the decom prize at £17.6 billion over the next decade and, with more than 400 installations in the North Sea to be removed, work from the domestic basin is expected to continue for at least a generation to come.
The new Dundee quayside facilities are expected to be in place by the end of this year and Mr Falconer said they would give the city better facilities than Able UK in Hartlepool.
The Teesside yard is handling the decommissioning of the 24,000-tonne topside of the Brent Delta platform.
“Is Dundee capable of doing that business? The answer is absolutely yes,” Mr Falconer said. “The Port of Dundee when it is finished will have at least as much capability as Hartlepool.”
Mr Falconer said Dundee had the skilled labour force, infrastructure and the right attitude to become a major hub for the sector and he was confident conversations happening now would bear fruit. However, he was reluctant to put a figure on the number of jobs he hoped would materialise.
“I have a significant network and I have been using that network to discuss the capability of Dundeecom with major players in decommissioning,” Mr Falconer said. “We have certainly turned their heads and I am hoping that head turning will turn into material business in due course.
“Once we have got one of the big players, that will inevitably attract the rest of the breakdown sector into the city and that is where jobs will be created for the community and for the benefit of the city.
“If we bring a major player into the port and we bring in the ancillary second and third tier supply chain, then material jobs will be created.”
Mr Falconer said his intention was to sign up a “major player” to come to Dundee before the end of this year, in expectation that the first major decom project would arrive in 2019.
“Forth Ports, Dundee City Council, DC Thomson and stakeholders are doing everything they possibly can to enable the decom industry in this city,” Mr Falconer added.
“Once we have got one of the big players, that will inevitably attract the rest of the breakdown sector into the city and that is where jobs will be created. CALLUM FALCONER, CEO, DUNDEECOM
The skyline of Dundee changed once again last night with the arrival of yet another oil rig at the port. If ever there was a sign of confidence and readiness to capitalise on the industrial possibilities presented by activity in the North Sea then this is it.
The Tay is becoming a magnet for rig refurbishment work and this will sit nicely alongside decommissioning contracts which appear to be not too far away.
Work has started on the upgrading of the dock by Forth Ports and a new landmark will appear soon in the form of a huge crane capable of moving heavy sections of North Sea installations as part of the work needed to deconstruct assets past their usefulness in exploring, drilling and transporting oil and gas.
The jobs have yet to come but, if all goes according to the plan outlined by Dundeecom chief executive Callum Falconer then they will.
Decommissioning will not cure all of the economic problems faced by Dundee and the surrounding area but it will go a long way to soaking up the spare capacity in the workforce which has the skills to serve heavy engineering ventures well.
Dundee is coming to the decommissioning party a bit late but is more than capable of catching up with English and European rivals.
Five rigs on the quayside is a glorious sight but seeing them being taken apart in the future will be even better.